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Three Porsche 911 GT3 R in the top ten

Porsche customer teams put in a spirited effort at the Nürburgring: Three Porsche 911 GT3 R have managed to take home points from Sunday’s ADAC GT Masters race.

Porsche Young Professional Mathieu Jaminet and Robert Renauer scored the best result with the fifth place of the customer sport racer at the Eifel circuit. The Precote Herberth Motorsport drivers rank third in the driver’s classification after eight of 14 races. Finishing on sixth place, Klaus Bachler and Adrien de Leener earned their first points in the championship. Their teammates Timo Bernhard and Kévin Estre took the flag in eighth place for KÜS Team75 Bernhard.

Starting from the eleventh grid spot, Porsche Young Professional Jaminet (France) snatched three places after the start. After 19 laps, the Precote Herberth Motorsport driver handed the car off to his teammate Renauer. The German then brought the car home in fifth on the 3.629-kilometre sprint track, and thus earned important points towards the championship. “After experiencing minor problems in the qualifying, the race went well. The pace of the 911 GT3 R was very good, I pushed and overtook several cars. With this result we have narrowed the points’ gap and are still in the championship game,” said Jaminet.

Porsche works driver Bernhard and Estre again yielded points from Sunday’s race

At the wheel of the second-best 911 GT3 R, Klaus Bachler from Austria and Adrien de Leener (Belgium) also delivered a flawless performance. Driving for KÜS Team75 Bernhard, they took up the race from ninth on the grid, after Bachler posted the best starting position of the season during qualifying. While running third in the race, the former Porsche Junior handed the 911 GT3 R to his teammate de Leener after 21 laps. “This result feels like a victory, especially after becoming entangled in an accident caused by another competitor on Saturday. The qualifying session went well, and the 911 GT3 R was fast over the entire weekend. We made the most out of today,” explained Bachler.

After scoring sixth the previous day, Porsche works driver Bernhard from Germany and the Frenchman Estre again yielded points from Sunday’s race. Le Mans winner Estre took up the race from 16th on the grid and managed to work his way up the field. After 20 laps, the two-time world endurance champion Bernhard took over driving duties and proceeded to put his rivals under pressure to the flag. Over the course of the race, the KÜS Team75 Bernhard drivers made up eight positions. “We had a good start, but another car behind me kept driving into my bumper. At one point I left the track. Thanks to our strategy we managed to make up some places. The entire crew worked hard,” said Estre.

IronForce by Ring Police

The newcomer team IronForce by Ring Police headed into round two on the Nürburgring from the 23rd grid spot. After Lucas Luhr from Germany overtook two cars in the first lap, his initial charge was hampered when he was sent into a spin by another competitor. After another collision, Luhr and his teammate Jan-Erik Slooten (Germany) finished on P26. The team received support from the TV presenter and cult YouTuber Jean Pierre (“JP”) Kraemer. “Unfortunately another car nudged us into a spin early in the race, and that’s why we had to start over. After handing the car off to Jan, he drove a great stint until someone hit him from behind. I’m sorry for the fans that we weren’t able to finish further up the field because of these incidents,” explained Luhr.

“The Porsche customer teams raced well at the Nürburgring. Compared to round one on Saturday, we were able to improve. IronForce by Ring Police had the misfortune of being caught up in a collision twice. Their speed was good and they would have finished further up the field. Precote Herberth Motorsport and KÜS Team75 Bernhard performed very well. The pace during the race was really good, but we noticed that there is room for improvement, especially in the qualifying. But we’re still in the race for the championship!” said Marc Lieb, Head of Customer Racing.

Porsche Young Professional Mathieu Jaminet and Robert Renauer crossed the finish line after a turbulent race on 16th. At the halfway mark of the season, the Precote Herberth Motorsport drivers rank third in the drivers’ classification. A total of three safety car phases and 13 retirements guaranteed some thrilling race action at the foot of the Nürburg castle.

Start driver Bernhard from Germany qualified his 911 GT3 R on the 13th grid spot on the 3.629-kilometre sprint track. In the race, the two-time world sports car champion and the 2018 Le Mans winner Kévin Estre (France) steadily made their way up the ranks. A five-second pit stop penalty, however, prevented them from achieving a better result. “At the start I had to veer to the left to avoid an accident and because I wasn’t directly behind the competitor in front of me we were handed a penalty. Apart from that, the race went well for us. In the first lap I managed to make up six positions. After handing the car to Kévin, he continued to push through the field. It’s not quite enough for a podium spot at the moment, but we’re on the right track,” said Bernhard.

Second-best 911 GT3 R on 16th place

Taking off from 14th on the grid, Jaminet (France) and Renauer (Germany) finished on 16th place in the second-best 911 GT3 R run by Precote Herberth Motorsport. As the race progressed and the tyres gradually deteriorated, the German-French duo could not maintain the initial pace. After the seventh of 14 rounds, the pair ranks third in the drivers’ classification. “We changed a lot on the setup, but we didn’t find the optimal compound. Now we have to work through the night to analyse the reasons for this. It’s good that we’re within striking distance in the drivers’ classification,” explained Renauer.

IronForce by Ring Police crossed the finish line on position 19. Start driver Jan-Erik Slooten and Lucas Luhr from Germany made up 16 places at the home race of the newcomer squad from the Rhineland. “During the first half of the race we had contact with another vehicle which sent me into a spin. After an early pit stop, Lucas went on to make up several places. The 911 GT3 R ran perfectly. Our pace was good and so were the lap times,” said Slooten.

The 911 GT3 R at the Nürburgring

The second 911 GT3 R fielded by KÜS Team75 Bernhard retired in lap four after an accident. The race car from Weissach was driven by Klaus Bachler (Austria) and Belgian Adrien de Leener. “After the first safety car phase I was hit from behind and that broke the steering rod. It’s a shame because we’d started the race well,” explained de Leener.

“It was a day of mixed fortunes. Timo Bernhard and Kévin Estre drove a strong race and made the most out of it. If it weren’t for the penalty, they would have finished further up the field. With Precote Herberth Motorsport we have to look at what happened. IronForce by Ring Police improved after the qualifying and made up several places. This shows that the pace is good. All the teams have worked at a very high level. On Sunday we would like to take another step forward,” said Marc Lieb, Head of Customer Racing.

Round eight of the ADAC GT Masters takes off on Sunday, 5 August, at 13:08 hrs. The grid positions of the three Porsche customer teams KÜS Team75 Bernhard, Precote Herberth Motorsport and IronForce by Ring Police are determined in a morning qualifying on race day. The 30-minute session begins at 8:30 hrs.

Zandvoort in the Netherlands hosts the fifth race weekend of the ADAC GT Masters from 17 to 19 August. The circuit on the coast of North Holland is the venue for rounds nine and ten of the race series. Four Porsche 911 GT3 R racers pit themselves against well-known competitors in the “super sports car league”. In the series held in four countries, Porsche goes up against Audi, BMW, Corvette, Ferrari, Honda, Lamborghini and Mercedes-AMG.